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BURIAL SPACE

This cemetery is closed to new interments. The only interments that are being accepted are subsequent interments for veterans or eligible family members in an existing gravesite. Periodically however, burial space may become available due to disinterment from an existing gravesite or for other reasons. If burial space is available at the time of request, the cemetery will assign such gravesites or columbarium niches to other eligible Veterans or family members. Since there is no way to know in advance when a gravesite may become available, please contact the cemetery at the time of need to inquire whether space is available.

DIRECTIONS FROM NEAREST AIRPORT

From Interstate 5 South or Interstate-8 West: Exit at Rosecrans Street, turn right on Canon Street, turn left on Catalina Boulevard.

From Interstate 5 North: Exit and turn left on Hawthorne Street, turn right on N. Harbor Drive, turn left on Rosecrans Street, turn right on Canon Street, turn left on Catalina Boulevard. Exit at Rosecrans Street (State route 209), turn right on Canon, turn left on Catalina Blvd.

From the nearest airport: Turn right on N. Harbor Drive, turn left on Rosecrans Street, turn right on Canon Street, turn left on Catalina Boulevard.

Public Transportation: San Diego Transit, Route 28.

SCHEDULE A BURIAL

Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Military Funeral HonorsMilitary Funeral Honors are provided by the following services. Your local funeral director can assist you with obtaining honors.

FLORAL/GROUNDS POLICY

Cemetery policies are conspicuously posted and readily visible to the public.

Floral arrangements accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed grave. There will be a maximum of four floral tributes placed on the gravesite.

Permanent plantings, statues, vigil lights, breakable objects of any kind and any other type of commemorative items, including toys (pin wheels, balloons, wind chimes, stuffed toys or any similar articles) are not permitted. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not permit adornments that are considered offensive, inconsistent with the dignity of the cemetery or considered hazardous to cemetery personnel. For example, items incorporating beads or wires may become entangled in mowers or other equipment and cause injury.

Permanent items removed from graves will be placed in an inconspicuous holding area for one month prior to disposal. Decorative items removed from graves remain the property of the donor but are under the custodianship of the cemetery. If not retrieved by the donor, they are then governed by the rules for disposal of federal property.

Traditional GravesitesFresh cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time of the year. They will be removed when they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations such as mowing; this will normally be done every Friday.

Potted plants and artificial flowers will be permitted on gravesites only during the period five days before to five days after Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. Christmas trees, no matter what size, are not considered potted plants and will not be allowed. Floral items and other types of decorations will not be secured to markers.

ColumbariumFresh cut flowers may be placed in the floral cones provided. The cones are to be placed in the gravel area surrounding the columbarium. Flowers will be removed when they become withered, faded or otherwise unsightly.

Artificial flowers will be removed the last Friday of each month to allow for cemetery maintenance.

Potted plants will be permitted on gravesites only during the period five days before to five days after Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. Christmas trees, no matter what size, are not considered potted plants and will not be allowed. Floral items and other types of decorations will not be secured to markers.

At no time will flowers or other objects be placed on the columbarium top or attached to the niche covers.

WEAPONS POLICY

VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors. Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Situated in San Diego County on the Fort Rosecrans Military reservation, the cemetery is located approximately 10 miles west of San Diego, overlooking the bay and the city.

Many Fort Rosecrans interments date to the early years of the California Territory, including the remains of the casualties of the battle of San Pasqual. Shortly after the United States declared war on Mexico in May 1846, Brigadier Stephen Watts Kearny was tasked with conquering Mexico’s northern provinces, New Mexico and California. While Kearny demonstrated his considerable gift for administrative command with his acquisition of the New Mexican territory, he faced a more difficult task in California. Expecting a show of force from the Mexican Californios, Kearny set out west from New Mexico. Upon reaching California, Kit Carson intercepted him and his men, who informed him the territory had been taken by American settlers in the Bear Flag Revolt. Kearny sent 200 of his men back to New Mexico with the news and continued forward with one-third of his force. Unfortunately, the success of the revolt had been exaggerated and, before reaching their destination, Kearny and his men encountered a group of Californios intent on keeping more U.S. troops out of their homeland.

In the subsequent Battle of San Pasqual, 19 of Kearny’s men and an untold number of Californios lost their lives. Initially, the dead were buried where they fell, but by 1874 the remains had been removed to the San Diego Military Reservation. Eight years later, the bodies were again reinterred at what is now Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. In 1922, the San Diego chapter of the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West had a large boulder brought from the battlefield and placed at the gravesite with a plaque affixed that lists the names of the dead.

Another notable monument in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery commemorates the deaths of 62 sailors in a boiler explosion aboard the USS Bennington. The Bennington, which had just returned from maneuvers in the Pacific, was anchored in San Diego Harbor. On July 21, 1905, the crew was ordered to depart in search for the USS Wyoming, which had lost a propeller at sea. At approximately 10:30 a.m., an explosion in the boiler room ripped through the ship, killing and wounding the majority of the crew. Two days later the remains of soldiers and sailors were brought to the post cemetery and interred in an area known as Bennington Plot.

Fort Rosecrans became a National Cemetery on Oct. 5, 1934. The decision to make the post cemetery part of the national system came, in part, due to changes in legislation that greatly increased the number of persons eligible for burial in a national cemetery. Grave space in San Francisco National Cemetery then grew increasingly limited. In addition, southern California was experiencing a phenomenal population growth during this period, and there was a definitive need for more burial sites.

The San Diego chapter of the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West installed the San Pasqual monument in 1922 to honor those soldiers who lost their lives in the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual during the Mexican War. The monument is comprised of a stone boulder with a bronze plaque mounted on it.

The USS Bennington monument is a tall granite obelisk dedicated to the men who lost their lives on that ship in San Diego Harbor on July 21, 1905. The monument was dedicated on Jan. 7, 1908.

The Ommaney Bay CVE-79 monument is an etched granite memorial to the men lost in action when the ship was bombed in January 1945.

The granite Taffy 3 monument was dedicated on Oct. 24, 1996, in memory of the men who died during the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf (Philippines) and in subsequent battles of the Pacific.

The granite USS Gambier Bay monument was dedicated on Oct. 25, 1996, in memory of the men who lost their lives during the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf (Philippines) and in subsequent battles of the Pacific. Family members and survivors donated the monument.

The USS Hoel, USS Johnston, and USS Samuel B. Roberts monument is a large granite memorial dedicated in 1995 to the men who died on those ships in the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf (Philippines).

The USS St. Lo, CVE-63, and Composite Squadron VC-65 was erected in1994 to the memory of the men who died on those ships in the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf (Philippines).

A monument dedicated to the Mormon Battalion was erected in 1998.

The Patriots of America memorial was dedicated in 1999 by the California State Society of the Founders and Patriots of America to honor all Americans who answered the call to arms.

The 3rd Infantry Division monument was dedicated on Feb. 16, 2002. The granite memorial is dedicated to their fallen comrades.

The Blue Star Memorial Marker was donated by the Point Loma Garden Club of California and dedicated on June 24, 2010. The marker is a tribute to American men and women who have served, are serving, or will serve their country. Its symbolism dates to World War II when families of servicemen and women displayed a square flag decorated with a blue star in their windows to signify that a loved one was in the armed forces.

OthersThomas S. Crow was the fourth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy and the highest ranking enlisted man. Crow joined the Navy in 1953 and trained as an aviation structural mechanic. He would later work in human relations serving as a race relations specialist and as a manager of a drug and alcohol program. He was selected from a slate of six candidates for the top enlisted man position in 1979. During his tenure he was instrumental in the creation of the Navy’s Senior Enlisted Academy and worked to improve the day-to-day lives of sailors.

Major Reuben H. Fleet, World War I aviator, interred in the cemetery. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego was named after Major Fleet.

Laurence Stallings was a screenwriter with over two dozen writing credits, i.e. What Price Glory."

General Holland Smith, U.S. Marine Corps, commanded FMF in the Pacific during World War II and led the "island hopping" campaign in central Pacific.

Lieutenant General John Wilson "Iron Mike" O'Daniel, U.S. Army, Commanded the 3rd Infantry Division, the Rock of the Marne, during World War II, the first Allied unit into Berchtesgaden in May 1945 (Section A-E, Grave 1172.)

Lt. Gen. Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, USMC, (Ret.), served as commanding general of Fleet Marine Force Pacific during the early years of the Vietnam War. Prior Krulak had served in both the Korean War and World War II. During the later, as a lieutenant colonel, he led a battalion in a diversionary raid to cover the invasion of Bougainville. He was wounded during action but refused to be evacuated; for his bravery, he was awarded the Navy Cross. Earlier in 1937, while stationed in Shanghai, he witnessed a Japanese assault against Chinese forces at the mouth of the Yangtze River in landing craft equipped with a square bow that became a retractable ramp for dispatching troops and equipment. Though he sent photos back to the United States, his report was initially ignored. Later, he consulted with New Orleans boat builder Andrew Higgins on what would become the landing craft used during the invasions of Normandy, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1968 and went to work as an executive and columnist for Copley newspapers. In 1984, Krulak penned First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps, which is considered the definitive book on the history and culture of the Marine Corps.

Major General Joseph H. Pendleton graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1884. By 1913, Pendleton had risen to the rank of colonel and was the commanding officer at the Marine Barracks at Puget Sound, where he was on expeditionary duty for much of the time. In mid-1914 after arriving in San Diego, Pendleton began to advocate for the establishment of a major Marine Corps installation in the area due to the location’s favorable weather and harbor. Retiring from military service in 1924, then General Pendleton settled in nearby Coronado where he served as mayor for a time. He died in February 1942. Later that year construction began on a Marine Corps base near Oceanside, California, and in September, Camp Joseph H. Pendleton was official dedicated by President Roosevelt. (Officer Sections, Site 191)